For the next edition of its annual Expert Forum on Farm Animal Well-Being, Boehringer Ingelheim is bringing together veterinary practitioners and welfare specialists, this time to reflect on the welfare standards associated with international trade of animal products.

The 11th Forum will take place in Sydney, Australia on 31st May and 1st June. This year, the company is expecting a larger audience of participants from Australasia who will come to share ideas and opinions on how improved welfare standards for livestock benefits animals, producers, industry and the consumer all around the world.

Steve Williams, Head of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Strategic Business Unit for Ruminants, shared: “Over the past decade, this series of conferences has repeatedly shown that paying attention to farm animal well-being is the right thing to do.

“Therefore, as a company, we have made a pledge to build and share scientific knowledge around farm animal well-being, and show where effective pain management benefits livestock and rewards farmers, while satisfying the social demands for responsible farming.”

The upcoming Forum will be attended by about 100 people, including veterinarians, animal scientists, farmers, food producers, and retailers. They will bring different perspectives on the science of animal welfare and the economic, social and political forces that drive changes in the agriculture industry. However, they all share an understanding of the need to satisfy the increasing demands of consumers that their food is produced in an ethical and sustainable manner.

This 11th annual meeting offers a timely opportunity to review the progress made by the livestock industry on developing welfare standards and metrics associated with the trade of animal products, with a special focus on export of live animals.

Improving the health and quality of life of patients is the goal of the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The focus in doing so is on diseases for which no satisfactory treatment option exists to date. The company therefore concentrates on developing innovative therapies that can extend patients’ lives. In animal health, Boehringer Ingelheim stands for advanced prevention.
 
Family-owned since it was established in 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies. Some 50,000 employees create value through innovation daily for the three business areas human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceuticals. In 2017, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of nearly 18.1 billion euros. R&D expenditure, exceeding three billion euros, corresponded to 17.0 per cent of net sales.
 
As a family-owned company, Boehringer Ingelheim plans in generations and focuses on long-term success, rather than short-term profit. The company therefore aims at organic growth from its own resources with simultaneous openness to partnerships and strategic alliances in research. In everything it does, Boehringer Ingelheim naturally adopts responsibility towards mankind and the environment.